10 MONDAY THINGS
Good-bye summer …
1 – It’s taken six months but the crappiness of the pandemic really hit home for me today. Tonight the Regina Pats would normally be holding their annual Blue & White Intrasquad Game and it’s a highlight of my year. In fact I’ve coached it a dozen or so times. My hockey buddies and I would gather at the rink, recap summer, and feast our eyes on the Pats top prospects. But now the players aren’t here, and I’m not sure there’s even ice in the Brandt Centre. All this for 42 active Covid cases in Sask.
2 – The Regina Pats are the team I loved first, the time I love the most, and the team I’ll always love. Leaving them 10 years ago was far more difficult than the leaving the Riders, but the circumstances were different. My family and closest friends know this is the case. Regardless, for those missing their favourite team or league right now, I feel your pain!
But I don’t plan to dwell on it, nor let it ruin my wonderful day.
3 – More proof the Vegas Golden Knights are the greatest expansion team in NHL history: Over the weekend they became the fastest expansion team to 25 playoff wins. They did it in 38 games. That’s five fewer than the prior record-holders; the Islanders and Oilers (43). The haters/critics still cry about the expansion rules being relaxed for Vegas but that’s a matter of fun debate. And besides, the more haters you have, the more successful you are! Think about it.
4 – The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons Tweeted during Sunday’s Game 4 of the Vegas/Vancouver series that Golden Knights pugilist Ryan Reaves is “embarrassing himself” by his antics. (He quivered his lips like a pouting toddler and exchanged expletives with Canucks coach Travis Green). I can assure you Reaves is far from embarrassed with his team up 3-1 and a win away from the Conference Final. Travis Green might want to examine his own actions, since they’re a sign to his own bench that he’s distracted by Reaves. This is so great!
5 – As for Simmons, would he prefer that Reaves behave like the Maple Leafs? NHL PR pointed out over the weekend that Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello acquired forwards Matt Martin and Leo Komarov from Toronto in the summer of 2018. Those two were teammates for two seasons in Toronto when Lamoriello was the Leafs GM. Now all three are one win away from the Eastern Conference Final with New York while the Leafs are watching on TV.
6 – I can see disgruntled Maple Leafs front office and hockey types shaking their fists and screaming at the NHL PR Department, “Why do you have to point that out??” The answer is … BECAUSE IT’S TRUE!
Hot Rumour Alert: Mike Babcock to be the head coach of the Washington Capitals.
7 – Was making coffee Sunday morning and thinking to myself “I’m really gonna miss my Sunday morning NFL pregame shows”. Then it hit me — the NFL is playing! There’s nothing to miss at all and kickoff is in 11 days. That means even more bad news for the CFL.
If you don’t believe in “Out of sight, out of mind”, think again. A great example is our good friend and sponsor Kirby Kazeil who runs SUDS Full Service Car Wash. He fought tooth and nail to stay open early in the pandemic because he knew once people got used to going somewhere else, they’ll never come back. The same applies here. It’s going to take an extreme amount of work for the CFL to be relevant again after the season cancellation. Do they have it in them?
8 – One thing I was surprised to learn over this pandemic is there are A LOT of people who only follow the CFL, or only follow the Riders, or only follow the Blue Jays, or whatever. It’s odd to me because my circle of friends are into a little bit of everything. For those despondent over the CFL cancellation because they can’t “get into” anything else, I don’t know what to tell ya …
9 – The NFL teams I’ve seen the most coverage for are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys. That’s perfect, because those are the two teams I’ll be following the most. On Tom Brady’s first series of 11-on-11 on Friday, he led the Buccaneers offense on a 98-yard touchdown drive. The analysts pointed out it was against the Bucs second team defense, so does it count? What a thrill to have this talk again!
10 – The Toronto Raptors are down 1-0 to the Boston Celtics in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs and the analysts say they’re in big trouble. I’ll have to take their word for it. Meanwhile today is Major League Baseball’s trade deadline and the Toronto Blue Jays are in contention. Now that’s exciting! Okay Blue Jays.
Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen
